Needle mechanism for cane-looms.



J. TILP. I NEBDLEMEGHANISM FOR CANE LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23, 1909.

929,346. Patented July 27, 1909.

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J. TILP.. NEEDLE MEGHANISM FOR cANE LOOMS.

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Patented July 27, 19 09.

APP'LIOATION FILED FEB. 23, 1909.

ANDREW av chum: no" mTn-ummmmns. WASHINGTON. n c.

J. TILP.

NEEDLE MECHANISM FOR CANE LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23, 1909.

929,346. Patented July 27, 1909.

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Q. N m w i: W T H E:

Qo x 1\ -E N k N a a Q E er nrro.

JOSEPH TILP, OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGFTOR TO H. MEYER, JR, OFHARBURG, GERMANY, A CORPORATION OF GERMANY.

NEEDLE MECHANISM FOR CANE-LOOMS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnri-r TILr, a citizen of the Empire ofAustriaI-lungary, residing in Hoboken, in the county of Hudson and Stateof New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inNeedle Mechanism for Cane-Looms, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to needle mechanism for cane-looms and to thegeneral type of needle mechanism described in Letters Patent No. 865,283granted to William Wattie on September 8,1907. In needle mechanism ofthis kind, which is employed in canelooms, there is provided anelongated laterally-reciprocating needle which traverses the shed tograsp and lay in the weft-strands, the needle being provided withgripping mechanism whereby it is closed on and released from the strandat the proper time.

In the VVattie patent mentioned, and in other patents, the gripping ofthe needle on the strand and its release from the latter are shown asbeing caused by the action of a reciprocating wedge entering between thenormally closed spring-jaws of the needle at its gripping end, thiswedge being actuated by means of a longitudinal rod extending throughthe needle proper and actuated by means of cam-surfaces on the guidewayfor the needle to open and close the needle jaws by the action of saidwedge. This mechanism, however, has the drawback that the wedge is notsecurely positioned with respect to the gripping jaws and that theelbow-lever for reciprocating the wedgecarrying rod has to ride for acomparatively great distance in frictional contact with thecam-surfaces; moreover, after riding over the surfaces the elbow-leverhas to drop off from the same before the wedge will be properlyactuated, and it often happens that the elbow-lever catches and fails todrop off from the cam-surfaces, so that the needle fails to grip thestrand.

The present invention has for its object to overcome the above-mentioneddifficulties and to provide an opening and closing device for theneedle-jaws which is securely positioned with respect to these jaws, andwhich need move only through a very small space to move the jaws fromopen to closed position, and vice versa. The invention does away withthe riding of the actuating elbow-lever for any considerable distanceSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 23, 1909.

Patented July 27, 1909.

Serial No. 479,624.

over its guide-surfaces and causes said lever, after momentarilycontacting with the guidesurfaces to open or close the jaws, as the casemay be, to jump away from said sur faces, so that there will be nofurther friction.

With these ends in view the invention consists in a needle mechanism inwhich a needle of the usual type is employed and between the spring-jawsof which needle is arranged a small toggle mechanism actuated by theusual operating rod and elbow-lever to open and close the jaws, as willbe hereinafter explained. The elbow-lever, instead of riding at its freeend over two cam-surfaces, rides over one of these surfaces and underthe other and contacts with them only momentarily, as will also bedescribed hereinafter.

. In the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a front-elevation of a needlemechanism for cane-looms constructed in accordance with the invention,Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 1, showing the grippingjaws open, Fig. 3 is a top-view of the needle and its adjunctive parts,Fig. 4: is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the gripping jaws inclosed position, Fig. 5 shows the needle in its retracted position, thatis to say, when it is in the position farthest to the right withreference to Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is an end-view of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is anenlarged detail view of the gripping end of the needle, showing thetoggle-operated opening and closing mechanism.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe different figures of the drawing.

As has been heretofore indicated, the needle is of the usual type exceptfor the specific opening and closing mechanism for its springjaws, andthe needle can be reciprocated in its guideway in any suitable manner.In the drawing, 8 indicates the usual guideway; 9, the sliding blockguided therein; 10, the mechanism for reciprocating said block, whichmechanism may, as stated, be

of any character whatsoever; and 11, the

reciprocating needle mounted on the guideblock.

The spring-jaws 12 of the needle are normally closed and in contact witheach other, due to the spring action of the metal. According to thisinvention, these jawsare opened and closed at the proper time by meansof a. toggle mechanism, shown in detail in Fig. 7, and consisting oflinks 13 pivoted to the inner surfaces of the jaws intermediately of thelength of the latter, and both connected at their inner ends with theforward end- 14 of a longitudinal actuating rod 15 extending through thehollow needle. The connection between the links and the jaws ispreferably made by means of eyes l3 on the aws and pivot-pins 13- theends of the links being pivoted to each other and to the rod 15 by meansof a pivot-pin 1 .9, as shown in Fig. 7. The butt-end of the act-uatingrod 15 is connected to an elbow-lever 1(3 fulcrumed at 17 to an upright18 on the guide-block t), and having at its free end a cylindricalprojection 19 extending laterally over the top of the guideway 8, asshown in Fig. 6.

Secured to the upper edge of the guideway are cams or guide-blocks20,21, of which the block 20 is located at the left of the guideway withreference to Fig. 1 and intended to actuate the elbow-lever 16 in such amanner as to close the jaws on the strand to be pulled through the warp;while the other guide-block 21 is located at the right of the guidewaywith reference to Fig. 1 and designed to open the needle-jaws to releasethe weft-strand when it reaches its proper position with regard to thewarp. Both the guide-blocks 20 and 21 are adjustable longitudinally ofthe guideway by means of bolts 22, which, however, is initself wellknown. 7

The guide-block 20, which causes the closing of the needlejaws, isformed with an upper inclined surface 28, as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and a,which the laterally-extending pin 19 of the elbow-lever overlies. Theguideblock 21 is formed in a somewhat different manner, as shown in Fig.5, it being provided with an upper overhanging portion 24, which isinclined at its under-portion to form a sloping surface 26 under whichthe pin 19 enters and with which it rides in contact through a shortdistance. The inclined surfaces 23 and 26 are substantially parallelwith each other, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the free end of theelbow-lever is guided in a straight line from which it deviates only toa slight extent.

The open position of the needle-jaws 12 is shown in Fig. 2. in thisposition the links 13 are alined with each other and the pivotpin 14* isin line with the pivot-pins 13 so that the jaws are spread apart to adistance corresponding to the combined lengths of said links. It isobvious that when the links are in this position the spring action ofthe aws, which tend to close, is sufiicient to move said links, unlessthey are exactly on a dead-center, which is rarely, if ever, the

case, to one side or the other of their pivots.

13 and in either of these positions the aws will be closed. Therefore itis evident that in order to spread the jaws, it is simply necessary topull the rod 15 rom the position shown in to that shown in Fig. 2,whereupon the links will be straightened out, as shown in the latterfigure, to spread the jaws. This actuation of the rod 15, in order toproduce both the opening and the closing of the jaws, is effected by theelbowlever and the two guide-blocks with which it coacts. Let us supposethat the needle is in the position hown in F 1 and that the jaws, duringthe backward movement of the needle to pull the strand into the arp, areclosed on the strand. in this position of the jaws the link 13 will bein the position shown in t, and the pin 19 will be out of contact withthe inclined surface 23 of the guide-block 20 at the left. When theelbowlever reaches the guide-block 21 it passes under the inclinednverhanging part 2t, as shown in Fig. 5, and then at a certain pointabuts momentarily, by means of its pin 1.), against said inclined )art,so that the elbowlever is swung on its pivot and the links 13 pulledfrom the position shown in F -;t through the position shown in Fig. 5into a position in which their connecting pivot-pin 11* is at theright-hand side, with reference to Fig. of a line connecting the pivots13 This movement of the links causes the jaws to be opened momentarily,when the links assume the position shown in Fig. 5, and the strand theefere released in its proper position-with respect to the warp-stramls.On the movement of the needle in the opposite direction, namely, itsforward movement, the links will remain in the position into which theyhave been moved, until the pin 19, in riding over the inclined surface23 of the block 20, contacts with said surface and by swinging the lever16 moves the links over to the other side of a plane pass ing throughtheir fixed ends, whereby the jaws are opened momentarily, as before,and then closed on the next strand to be grasped and carried into thewarp.

The links 13 snap with great rapidity from a position at one side of theplane connecting their fixed ends to a position at the other side, andsoon as this has been effected the pin 19 jumps away from thecorresponding uide-snrface, so that there is no further friction. Thecenter pivot-pin 1% has only a very short distance to travel between itstwo extreme positions, and the throwing of the links from one side oftheir normal center-plane to the other can be of fected with a minimumamount of work and friction. By adjusting the guide-blocks 20, 21longitudinally of the guideway by means of their bolts the actuation ofthe links can be made to take place at exactly the proper point.Further, the fact that the pin 19 of the elbow-lever only contact-smomentarily with the guide-surfaces and does not have to drop off thesame is a very important feature as it produces a very reliableoperation of the device, regardless of the speed.

Although the improved mechanism is described as being used in connectionwith nine-looms, it may be used successfully in the weaving of numerousother fabrics; and the ll'lQCllttlllSHl may, of course, be changed as toits detailed construction without departing from the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. I11 needle mechanism for cane-looms, a needle having spring-jaws, andautomaticallyoperated toggle mechanism located between the jaws tospread the same.

2. In needle mechanism for cane-looms, a needle having normally closedspringjaws, a toggle interposed between the jaws to spread and open thesame, and an automatically-actuated operating rod for the toggleextending longitudinally through the needle.

8. In needle mechanism for cane-looms, a needle having normally closedspring-jaws, links connected with the inner faces of said jawsintermediately'of the length of the latter and connected with eachother, and means to move the connection between the links from one sideto the other of the normal plane of the links.

I. In needle mechanism for cane-looms, the combination of alaterally-reciprocating needle, spring-jaws carried thereby, togglelinksconnecting the jaws, a rod extending through the needle and connectedwith the links, and means to actuate the rod at different points in thetravel of the needle.

5. In needle mechanism for cane-looms, the combination of areciprocating needle having normally closed spring-jaws, togglemechanism to spread said jaws embodying an actuating rod, a guide-block,and an elbow-lever connected with the actuating rod and movable at itsfree end in contact with i the guide-block to operate the toggle, saidfree end after such actuation immediately jumping away from itsguide-surface.

6. In needle mechanism for cane-looms, the combination of areciprocating needle having gripping jaws, toggle mechanism to spreadsaid aws, operating mechanism for the toggle embodying an elbow-leverwhich moves with the needle, and guide-blocks with which one end of theelbow-lever coacts at opposite ends of the travel of the needle, one of:said guide-blocks having a guide-surface which the end of said leveroverlies, and the other having a guide-surface overhanging saidlever-end.

7. In needle mechanism for cane-looms, the combination of areciprocating needle having normally closed spring-jaws, togglelinksconnecting said jaws and which spread the same when said links arealined with each other, and means acting at each end of thereciprocatory movement of the needle to move the connection between saidlinks from one side of the plane in which their jawends are located tothe other.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH TILP.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. SUHRBmR, FANNIE FIsK.

